Monday, February 6, 2017

Rock 'n rollin' into the Hall of Fame

WWE and CBS Sports have announced legendary tag team The Rock 'n Roll Express will be inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017. I had seen rumors of this happening earlier in the year, but it's now official. It's a well deserved honor for Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, but I'll admit I'm a bit surprised by the decision only because the team was primarily an NWA/WCW team although they had a few matches in WWF in the 90s.

Early success

When I started watching wrestling in 1983 the Rock 'n Roll Express had just been created. I read about them in the Apter magazines before they came to Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985. They were the hottest team on the scene, quickly winning tag team gold and feuding with the likes of the Koloffs, The Midnight Express and the Four Horsemen.

Still rockin'
Courtesy: WWE

The duo had singles matches against NWA Champion Ric Flair during the Great American Bash too, with both Morton and Gibson being over with fans as they battled the hated champion. Reading the highlights in those Apter mags, it always seemed like Morton was "this close" to winning the gold. Personally I was a WWF guy in those days and prefered the British Bulldogs, Hart Foundation and Demolition to the Rock 'n Roll Express. Even in NWA matches, I liked The Midnight Express as they had some epic battles against each other.

Ricky & Robert in 2014

When I was working in Alabama in 1998 I had a chance to meet the New Rock 'n Roll Express. It was Morton and his "son". I don't remember the gimmicked name for the wrestler, but he later turned out to be Kid Kash. Morton was very friendly and granted me a quick interview that night, I enjoyed meeting him a lot. In 2014 Chad and I watched as Morton and Gibson captured the NWA tag team titles again at the NWA Midsouth show in New Orleans during WrestleMania XXX week.

Congratulations to both Morton and Gibson on getting the nod for the Hall of Fame, without a doubt the Rock 'n Roll Express will go down as one of the greatest tag teams in the history of the business.